Game of the Year 2022 — FAKE RONJAN!!

For the second year in a row, I spent far more time playing older games than new ones. Last year, I attributed that to pandemic-related delays in game development, which spurred on a classic cartridge collector binge that eventually got a bit out of hand.

This year? I’m not so sure. Perhaps other things were on my mind, like leaving my employer of over 17 years or turning 40. Perhaps I was intimidated by the infamous challenge presented by Elden Ring when I noped out after fifteen minutes and got a refund. Perhaps I was fixated on the horrible crimes I committed as Kratos in God of War III over a decade ago when I tried and failed to get into God of War Ragnarök.

Or perhaps I had unfinished business … in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

I had left my original island Cerseilani in limbo last year when I joined my son on a brand new island, but part of me longed to revisit Cerseilani and pull at some threads that were loose in my mind. So in March of this year, I bought a new Nintendo Switch with the gorgeous OLED screen, I contacted Nintendo and said my previous Switch was lost (a lie, as it was), and they were able to restore Cerseilani onto my new system. Sweet!

I quickly got back to work, first by earning the KK Slider concert that triggers the end credits:

Soon after, I terraformed my island, removing most of the mountains and replacing them with a nice residential neighborhood:

I made Blathers happy by completing the fossil, bug, and fish collections:

I finally … finally celebrated a birthday on the island:

And I maxed out my home, upgrading it to the largest size and paying off the loans in full. All in all, I think I finally took care of everything I needed to and am now comfortable declaring that I’m done with this game.

In 2020, Animal Crossing and Cerseilani were a refuge for me in the worst of times. In 2022, Animal Crossing and Cerselani were a constant for me as I navigated big life changes and got closure.

I’m excited to see what Nintendo does next with this franchise. It’s time to look forward and move on. But I’ll always be thankful for this game and Cerseilani.

Okay, so that’s all well and good, but isn’t this a Game of the Year 2022 article? I’m not seriously considering giving Animal Crossing: New Horizons the award this year, am I?

Nah. While Animal Crossing was easily my most played game this year, there were other delightful experiences as well.

While it released in 2018, I played plenty of Octopath Traveler with my son this year. He got so into the story and the characters and became so excited when he learned that a sequel is coming in a few months that he designed his own characters for a third game in the series:

While it released in 1995 in Japan, my son and I also played a lot of the Super Nintendo puzzle game Panel de Pon. In a shocking twist, he got really, really good. Like not just better than me, but potentially expert caliber. Just look at this:

I finally broke down and bought a PS5 this year, and I couldn’t help but falling in love with the pack-in game that released in 2020, Astro’s Playroom. What an amazing celebration of the history of PlayStation, and what a fabulous showcase for the haptics in the new controller. Plus, 3D platformers are still great! More of this please! I love the collection of hardware that you pick up as you work through the game:

Okay, enough stalling. On to this year’s top five.

5. Trombone Champ

So, I only played this game a couple of times, and that was in suboptimal conditions on the Steam Deck. But it made me laugh so thoroughly as I failed my way through songs I could play blindfolded on a piano or a violin. And this game gave me the YouTube clip I laughed at harder than any other this year:

Not much else to say. It deserves to be on the list.

4. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

As my son gets older, I find more and more of my playtime goes to games that we can take on together. Playing through all of the Star Wars movies co-op with him as LEGO versions of the classic characters was about as fun as it gets. And we loved how the game lets you replay levels with any character you like. We had a lot of fun with a Darth Maul and Darth Maul vs. Darth Maul battle in Episode I. This game is a tribute to the best of coach co-op gaming, and I’m here for it. Plus, even the title screen is epic!

3. NBA 2K23

Wow, this really surprised me. I haven’t been really into sports video games since my 20s. Back then, I’d do multiple full seasons of franchise mode in one game, then switch sports and move onto the next one. For whatever reason, I fell out of that pattern in my 30s. While I may not ever get back to that level of sports gaming, this year’s NBA 2K has two big things going for it.

First off, the developers revamped the franchise mode to allow you to start in different points in league history, allowing you to live out your “what-if” fantasies to your heart’s content. What if LeBron hadn’t taken his talents to South Beach? What if Shaq and Kobe had found a way to make it work? What if Jordan never came back from playing baseball? Okay, I’m not sure if the last one is possible, but the flexibility to try all of these scenarios out means I’ll be messing around with this version of NBA 2K for years to come. It’s exactly what I’ve always wanted.

Secondly, they brought back the Jordan Challenge from NBA 2K11. Now, I’m no Michael Jordan fan. I kind of can’t stand the man. Like, I’ll argue with a straight face that Tim Duncan was better, because he was such a better teammate. BUT … no one had epic moments like Michael Jordan. And what better way to celebrate those moments than a trip back in history to every one of them, from his NCAA title game-winner in 1982 to his NBA Finals game-winner in 1998. With authentic presentation and era-specific commentary, it’s quite a celebration of the man’s body of work. And while I can quibble that it’s too MJ-centric … it’s just fun gaming.

2. Quordle (quordle.com)

At the beginning of this year, Wordle was the talk of the town, especially when it was acquired by the New York Times. And sure, I played it, but I soon got hooked on one of the many knock-off games it inspired, Quordle.

In Quordle, you’re solving 4 Wordle puzzles at the same time, and while it seems daunting at first, it ends up being more satisfying in my opinion since you can be more strategic about how you balance safety & information gathering with bravery & guessing words outright.

The daily Quordle is the first thing I do every morning and for that alone it’s got to make this list. Here’s how I did today:

1. Stray

So, before I even begin, I am a proud member of #teamcat and will always rep for my feline besties.

So yeah, a 3D platforming game where you play as a cat was always going to be in my wheelhouse. I was definitely going to try it for the novelty alone. I’ve seen cats, I know how to cat, let me try to cat!

What I didn’t expect was that this would be my favorite game of the year, that it’d be one of the most beautiful pieces of media I’ve ever experienced, and that it would move me to tears.

Reductively, Stray is about a cat finding its way home (and spoiler alert, it does so safely, just in case anyone was worried about that before trying).

Narratively, Stray is about life, loss, regret, guilt, hope, friendship, threats, safety, and survival.

Gameplay-wise, Stray is basically the perfect combination of Uncharted’s vertical world exploration, The Last of Us’s post-apocolyptic setting, and moments where a cat is just being a cat.

This was a game that grabbed me from the outset with a gimmick, hooked me with its heart, and never outstayed its welcome. The six hours I spent playing Stray were among the best six hours I spent this year. I can’t wait to be a cat again.